The following page is out of date and/or needs to be revised. If the page's guide needs revision, see here for an example. The revision reason is: "Missing info about a lot of things, including new ammo types, shuttle construction and more."
R&D (not to be confused with the RD) consists of scientists spending (mostly) automatically generated research points on a tech web to unlock technology that can be used for various departments.
Essentially this means that a scientist in this modern world doesn't actually have to know any of the concepts he's working with; it's all about pressing science buttons and playing with the resulting toys! Ain't life grand?
How 2 Gain More Points: 4 Dummies
Ballmer Peak
DRINK ALCOHOL GODDAMNIT. If you drink juuuust the right amount of alcohol, you can research new technologies faster. However, if you drink too much alcohol, you research new technologies slower. As a scientist, instead of slurring, you start shouting out phrases from the pool below. Some of these phrases signify good blood alcohol levels, some of them signify pretty damn unhealthy blood alcohol levels.
Ballmer Phrases: The Good Sayings (indication that you've drank enough alcohol to get that sweet tech boost)
Hey guys, what if we rolled out a bluespace wiring system so mice can't destroy the powergrid anymore?
Hear me out here. What if, and this is just a theory, we made R&D controllable from our PDAs?
I'm thinking we should roll out a git repository for our research under the AGPLv3 license so that we can share it among the other stations freely.
I dunno about you guys, but IDs and PDAs being separate is clunky as fuck. Maybe we should merge them into a chip in our arms? That way they can't be stolen easily.
Why the fuck aren't we just making every pair of shoes into galoshes? We have the technology.
Windows ME Phrases: The Bad Sayings (indication that you've drank too much alcohol, please don't do RnD)
Yo man, what if, we like, uh, put a webserver that's automatically turned on with default admin passwords into every PDA?
So like, you know how we separate our codebase from the master copy that runs on our consumer boxes? What if we merged the two and undid the separation between codebase and server?
Dude, radical idea: H.O.N.K mechs but with no bananium required.
Best idea ever: Disposal pipes instead of hallways.
Tachyon-Doppler Array
Toxins bombs detonated at the test site generate points through the Tachyon-Doppler Research Array which records the size of the blast. Somehow this generates points. After a change 2018 the maximum amount of points you can get from a bomb and round is 50 000.
The formula returns the delta between the total points generated and the points that would be generated by the bomb. The above graph statically applies whether you detonate the smaller bomb first or last, the downside being that improving your bomb will still reward you but with significantly less points than before. A maxcap bomb (purple), and a 700 (red) and 1000 (orange) radius bomb are marked on the graph with horizontal lines.
Radiation Collectors/Tesla Corona Analyzers
Radiation Collectors can be set to generate research points instead of power, if the engineers are bored and you're already rolling in power. Radiation collectors require a mix of tritium and oxygen to produce research points. These gasses are consumed at a very rapid pace when the rad collector is in research point production mode. Work together with science or atmos techs to increase the station's research point production at the temporary cost of power production. For reference, one room temperature tank with 50% tritium, 50% oxygen will produce a total of 50 research points with the most frequently used supermatter setup. More radiation will increase the rate at which research points are generated, and packing more moles of both gasses into the tank will increase the amount of time a rad collector will be able to generate research points.
Tesla Coronas (a variant of tesla coils) can be set using a screwdriver on the circut board to generate research points instead of power, if the engineers are bored and you're already rolling in power. Unlike the radiation collector, it simply generates research points through electricity striking the object, not through variable gas mixtures. This means that although the Tesla Corona generates points more reliably, you don't have as many ways to increase the actual amount of points generated.
Tech Webs
Research points are generated at a static rate by the R&D Network (albeit more research points can be generated by the E.X.P.E.R.I-MENTOR) and can be spent on Technology Nodes at the console.
This is what your console will look like at the start of the round.
Simply click into any of the technologies to see what it requires and what it unlocks.
The number next to each technology represents its cost.
To unlock a technology, click the cost to spend your research points on it.
The console will update the screen to reflect your new research and send out a notification in chat.
At the start of a round, if you don't have any other research directives you should strongly research in the following order:
All the tech that leads to Mining Technology and Advanced Mining Technology, including Industrial engineering. Without building additional servers you should be able to accomplish this in 11 minutes of round time.
Applied Bluespace Research, including mining satchels.
Tier 3, then 4 stock part technologies.
Afterwards consider finish all medical technologies before nanites, robotics and firearms.
Industrial Engineering is available as soon as you get your first 7500 research points, unlocks tier 2 stock parts for machine upgrades, and unlocks the RPED. It's also a pre-requisite for ALL of the other research items suggested here, so it's probably a good idea to consider doing it first of all. Possibly the biggest benefit for Science from this technology is that that someone can grab an RPED and go update Cargo's Ore Redemption Machine (ORM) immediately after finishing this topic. If the ORM is upgraded before the miners bring back their first load, then right off the bat ore gathered increases 35% and miners get 35% more points to spend on directly upgrading their mining equipment... which ultimately helps them bring in more ore for Science!
Mining Technology and, later, Advanced Mining Technology will give mining the tools needed to bring back much more ore to stock your protolathe. That makes these high-priority topics for most rounds. To research Mining Technology (2500) requires Industrial Engineering (7500) first, then Basic Plasma Research (2500). Advanced Mining Technology requires a bit more work and you will research most of the tier 3 stock parts or their prereqs on your journey to researching it.
Applied Bluespace Research allows miners to get Mining Satchels of Holding and also opens up the Bluespace RPED, which makes machine upgrades (your responsibility!) trivial. This technology is available for 5000 research points after unlocking first-tier research topics Industrial Engineering (7500) and Basic Bluespace Theory (2500). This is also a Tier 3 stock part technology.
The Tier 3 stock part technologies are listed above.
Applied Bluespace Research (5000) requires Industrial Engineering (7500) and Basic Bluespace Theory (2500). It is also a good topic to research for you and mining, as mentioned above.
High Efficiency Parts (7500) requires Industrial Engineering (7500) and the basic research topic Data Theory (2500).
Advanced Electromagnetic Theory (3000) ONLY requires Electromagnetic Theory (2500), but you are basically spending 5500 points just for laser parts (which let the ORM generate more mining points for miners.)
Advanced Power Manipulation (2500) is the only one immediately available after researching Industrial Engineering (7500).
The diagram below gives a quick overview of the suggested early research priorities above.
Certain round circumstances may call for different research early on (such as the lack of miners requiring the need for science to do mining themselves instead), talk to your fellow scientists and listen to your Research Director!
The progression is not linear and many research options require multiple pre-requisite technologies.
To assist in understanding: provided below is a diagram.
Note: Research tree depicted above is VERY out of date.
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is done through the Destructive Analyzer:
Sync the Destructive Analyzer to the research computer if it's not synced.
Insert an item into it.
Use the computer.
The computer will show you the name of the object, if it unlocks any tech nodes, and how many materials you get from deconstruction.
The Destructive Analyzer will recover a portion of the materials contained inside scanned items and transfer it to a connected protolathe. Upgrading it will increase the amount recovered.
Illegal technology, alien technology can only be discovered then researched by inserting a syndicate and/or abductor exclusive item into the Destructive analyzer.
All machines are composed of components. There are better versions of many components, attained through research. They are organized in 4 tiers, and upgrading the tier of a machine's components will have different effects for each machine.
Without minerals, you can achieve up to tier 2-3; to go further you'll require ores for production.
Tier 2 parts are all unlocked with "Industrial Engineering," which also unlocks the RPED. Others are unlocked as noted.
Stock Parts
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Usual Effect
Micro-Manipulator
Nano-Manipulator
Pico-Manipulator1
Femto-Manipulator5
Improves speed and efficiency.
Basic Matter Bin
Advanced Matter Bin
Super Matter Bin1
Bluespace Matter Bin5
Improves capacity.
Basic Micro-Laser
High-Power Micro-Laser
Ultra-High-Power Micro-Laser2
Quad-Ultra Micro-Laser6
Improves speed and efficiency.
Basic Scanning Module
Advanced Scanning Module
Phasic Scanning Module3
Triphasic Scanning Module5
Improves scanning precision.
Basic Capacitor
Advanced Capacitor
Super Capacitor4
Quadratic Capacitor7
Improves power efficiency.
1: Unlocked with High Efficiency Parts 2: Unlocked with Advanced Electromagnetic Theory 3: Unlocked with Applied Bluespace Research 4: Unlocked with Advanced Power Manipulation 5: Unlocked with Miniaturized Bluespace Research 6: Unlocked with Quantum Electromagnetic Technology 7: Unlocked with Bluespace Power Technology
Once you unlock advanced components, people around the station will probably want you to upgrade the machinery. Overall, the process is simply replacing obsolete stock parts with higher-tier parts.
The least efficient way is to upgrade by hand. Since the RPED unlocks at the same time as tier 2 parts, there's really no reason to ever do this unless your station for some incomprehensible reason just can't afford an RPED.
Screwdriver on the machine.
Crowbar on the machine.
Take the board and re-insert it into machine.
Insert parts you want to use.
Screwdriver the machine closed.
As a much more efficient alternative, you can use RPED (Rapid Part Exchange Device), which unlocks with the Industrial Engineering topic. That is, the RPED unlocks as soon as you actually have your first upgraded parts, so you should pretty much always be upgrading with an RPED. The RPED replaces each component in a machine with the highest component of its tier that's loaded in the RPED.
Load RPED with parts, such as stock parts, loaded power cells, beakers and vendor restocking units.
Screwdriver on the machine.
Click on it with RPED.
Screwdriver again to close the machine.
The best alternative is to use the even more advanced Bluespace Rapid Part Exchange Device (BRPED), which functions just like an RPED except that you don't need access to the machine, screwdrivers, or even adjacency! That's right: BRPED works even through camera views. Consider building a camera console in R&D once you have a BRPED instead of running all over the station. This device is unlocked with Applied Bluespace Research and operates as follows:
Load Bluespace RPED with parts, such as stock parts, loaded power cells, beakers and vendor restocking units.
Click on the machine to upgrade with the Bluespace RPED. That's it! No screwdrivering or asking the AI or people to open doors into their departments.
Robotics starts with two of these. This machine will build everything a roboticist needs to do his job, aside from circuits. To update its research levels:
Sync the R&D Research Console.
Sync the Robotics Research Console.
Sync the Exosuit Fabricator.
Can be used directly, without the Research Console.
Items available from the start:
Exosuit Fabricator Round-Start Manufacturing List
Expand
Icon
Item
List
Cyborg endoskeleton
Cyborg
15000
Cyborg torso
Cyborg
40000
Cyborg head
Cyborg
5000
Cyborg left arm
Cyborg
10000
Cyborg right arm
Cyborg
10000
Cyborg left leg
Cyborg
10000
Cyborg right leg
Cyborg
10000
Ripley/Firefighter chassis
Ripley
20000
Ripley torso
Ripley
20000
7500
Ripley left arm
Ripley
15000
Ripley right arm
Ripley
15000
Ripley left leg
Ripley
15000
Ripley right leg
Ripley
15000
Hydraulic clamp
Exosuit Equip
10000
Exosuit drill
Exosuit Equip
10000
Exosuit extinguisher
Exosuit Equip
10000
Cable layer
Exosuit Equip
10000
Exosuit mining scanner
Exosuit Equip
5000
2500
Cyborg reclassification board
Borg Upgr
5000
Cyborg emergency reboot module
Borg Upgr
20000
5000
Exosuit tracking beacon
Misc
500
Power cell
Misc
700
50
Man-machine interface
Misc
1000
500
Synthetic flash
Misc
750
750
Reseachable items:
Exosuit Fabricator Researchable Manufacturing List
Expand
Icon
Item
List
Node
Odysseus chassis
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
20000
Odysseus torso
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
12000
Odysseus head
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
6000
10000
Odysseus left arm
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
6000
Odysseus right arm
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
6000
Odysseus left leg
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
7000
Odysseus right leg
Odysseus
EXOSUIT: Odysseus
7000
Gygax chassis
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
20000
Gygax torso
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
20000
10000
2000
Gygax head
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
10000
5000
2000
Gygax left arm
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
15000
1000
Gygax right arm
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
15000
1000
Gygax left leg
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
15000
2000
Gygax right leg
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
15000
2000
Gygax armor plates
Gygax
EXOSUIT: Gygax
15000
10000
10000
Durand chassis
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
25000
Durand torso
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
25000
10000
10000
Durand head
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
10000
15000
2000
Durand left arm
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
10000
4000
Durand right arm
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
10000
4000
Durand left leg
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
15000
4000
Durand right leg
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
15000
4000
Durand armor plates
Durand
EXOSUIT: Durand
30000
25000
20000
H.O.N.K. chassis
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
20000
H.O.N.K. torso
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
20000
10000
10000
H.O.N.K. head
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
10000
5000
5000
H.O.N.K. left arm
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
15000
5000
H.O.N.K. right arm
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
15000
5000
H.O.N.K. left leg
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
20000
5000
H.O.N.K. right leg
H.O.N.K.
Clown Technology
20000
5000
Phazon chassis
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
20000
Phazon torso
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
35000
10000
20000
Phazon head
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
15000
5000
10000
Phazon left arm
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
20000
10000
Phazon right arm
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
20000
10000
Phazon left leg
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
20000
10000
Phazon right leg
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
20000
10000
Phazon armor
Phazon
EXOSUIT: Phazon
25000
20000
20000
Pacifier mounted taser
Exosuit Equip
PBT "Pacifier" Mounted Taser
10000
Ultra AC 2 LMG
Exosuit Equip
"Ultra AC 2" LMG
10000
Mounted Sleeper
Exosuit Equip
Medical Exosuit Equipment
5000
10000
Exosuit Syringe Gun
Exosuit Equip
Medical Exosuit Equipment
3000
2000
Exosuit Medical Beamgun
Exosuit Equip
Medical Exosuit Equipment
15000
8000
3000
8000
2000
SGL-6 grenade launcher
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (SGL-6 Grenade Launcher)
22000
8000
6000
Diamond-tipped exosuit drill
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Diamond Drill
10000
6500
Exosuit plasma converter
Exosuit Equip
Basic Plasma Research
10000
1000
5000
1000
Exonuclear reactor
Exosuit Equip
Simple Exosuit Modules
10000
1000
500
LBX AC 10 "Scattershot"
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (LBX AC 10 "Scattershot")
10000
FNX-99 "Hades" carbine
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (FNX-99 "Hades" Carbine)
10000
MKIV Ion Heavy Cannon
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (MKIV Ion Heavy Cannon)
20000
6000
2000
MKI Tesla Cannon
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (MKI Tesla Cannon)
20000
8000
Reactive armor booster module
Exosuit Equip
Simple Exosuit Modules
20000
5000
Reflective armor booster module
Exosuit Equip
Simple Exosuit Modules
20000
5000
SRM-8 missile rack
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (SRM-8 Missile Rack)
22000
8000
6000
Mounted wormhole generator
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Module (Localized Wormhole Generator)
10000
CH-PS "Immolator" laser
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (CH-PS "Immolator" Laser)
10000
SOB-3 clusterbang launcher
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Module (SOB-3 Clusterbang Launcher)
20000
10000
10000
Mounted gravitational catapult
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Module (Gravitational Catapult Module)
10000
Exosuit repair droid
Exosuit Equip
Advanced Exosuits
10000
5000
2000
1000
CH-LC "Solaris" laser cannon
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Weapon (CH-LC "Solaris" Laser Cannon)
10000
Mounted RCD
Exosuit Equip
Advanced Exosuit Equipment
30000
25000
20000
20000
217-D Heavy Plasma Cutter
Exosuit Equip
Advanced Plasma Research
8000
1000
2000
Tesla energy relay
Exosuit Equip
Simple Exosuit Modules
10000
2000
3000
2000
Mounted teleporter
Exosuit Equip
Exosuit Module (Teleporter Module)
10000
10000
Mousetrap mortar
Exosuit Equip
Clown Technology
20000
5000
Banana mortar
Exosuit Equip
Clown Technology
20000
5000
HoNkER BlAsT 5000
Exosuit Equip
Clown Technology
20000
10000
Cyborg VTEC
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Combat
35000
12000
10000
Cyborg Ion Thrusters
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
10000
6000
5000
6000
Rapid Disabler Cooling Module
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Combat
20000
6000
2000
2000
Cyborg Diamond Drill
Borg Upgr
Advanced Robotics Research
10000
2000
Cyborg Ore Satchel of Holding
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
10000
6000
2000
1000
Mining Cyborg Lavaproof Tracks
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
10000
4000
5000
Cyborg Self-Repair
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
15000
15000
Illegal equipment module
Borg Upgr
Illegal Technology
15000
15000
10000
Clown Module
Borg Upgr
Clown Technology
15000
15000
1000
Hypospray Expanded Synthesiser
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Medical
15000
15000
8000
8000
Piercing Hypospray
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Medical
15000
15000
8000
3000
5000
Defibrillator
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Medical
8000
5000
4000
3000
Surgical Processor
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Medical
5000
4000
4000
Trash Bag of Holding
Borg Upgr
Advanced Robotics Research
2000
1000
Advanced Mop
Borg Upgr
Advanced Robotics Research
2000
2000
Expand
Borg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
200000
5000
Engineering Cyborg RPED
Cyborg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Utility
10000
5000
Crew Pinpointer
Cyborg Upgr
Cyborg Upgrades: Medical
1000
500
High-capacity power cell
Misc
Industrial Engineering
700
60
Super-capacity power cell
Misc
Advanced Power Manipulation
700
70
Hyper-capacity power cell
Misc
Advanced Power Manipulation
700
80
150
150
Bluespace power cell
Misc
Bluespace Power Technology
800
160
120
160
300
100
Positronic Brain
Misc
Positronic Brain
1700
1350
500
B.O.R.I.S. AI-Cyborg Remote Control Module
Misc
Artificial Intelligence
1200
1500
200
AI Control Beacon
Misc
Artificial Intelligence
1000
500
200
Circuit Imprinter
The Circuit Imprinter requires glass and occasionally gold or diamond. Here you will find circuits for most of the station's machinery and robotics' exosuits. With gold and diamonds, you can also make AI law modules.
The departmental Protolathe requires materials such as metal, glass and mineable minerals. Each sheet gives 2000 units when inserted into a Protolathe or its connected Ore Silo. It allows you to build objects such as stock parts, power cells and much more, depending on department.
Building 5 or 10 of the same item is faster than building it one at a time for 10 times; if you need lots of a particular item, mass produce them!
Techfab
The departmental Techfabs are circuit imprinters and departmental protolathes combined, except their available circuit boards differ depending on their department.